The following abbreviations that appear herein are defined as follows:    3GPP—Third Generation Partnership Project, http://www.3gpp.org/    3GPP2—Third Generation Partnership Project 2, http://www.3gpp2.org/    GSM—Global System for Mobile Communication—radio access technology specified by 3GPP, http://www.3gpp.org/    CDMA—Code Division Multiple Access—radio access technology specified by 3GPP2, http://www.3gpp2.org/    DM—Device Management    IOTA-DM—IP Based Over-the-Air DM    MCC—Mobile Country Code    MNC—Mobile Network Code    MS—Mobile Station    MT—Multimode Terminal    Node B—Base Station (BS)    OMA—Open Mobile Alliance    OTAPA—Over-the-Air Parameter Administration    OTASP—Over-the-Air Service Provisioning    PLMN—Public Land Mobile Network    PRL—Preferred Roaming List    RNC—Radio Network Controller    SIM—Subscriber Identification Module    SSID—service set identifier, a sequence of characters that uniquely names a WLAN    UE—User Equipment    UIM—User Identification Module    WCDMA—Wideband Code Division Multiple Access—radio access technology specified by 3GPP, http://www.3gpp.org/    WLAN—Wireless Local Area Network
A multimode terminal may be defined as a terminal capable of accessing services from different networks that operate using different systems, i.e., that operate using different radio access technologies such as, but not limited to, GSM/WCDMA, CDMA2000 and WLAN.
Prior to receiving any services from a network operator, the multimode terminal needs to select a network from a system to access. Network selection in a one-system domain such as GSM/WCDMA and CDMA2000 has been specified in 3GPP and 3GPP2, respectively. However, network selection in a multi-system domain is still under development. In general, however, the multimode terminal should perform system selection according to a set of pre-defined preferences by network operators and/or users. The multimode terminal then should perform network selection according to system specific procedures. Ultimately the multimode terminal should have a capability to select a most desired network (e.g., a HOME network) from a most desired system (e.g., a. business effective system).
In addition, the multimode terminal should have a capability to support different modes of system selection, such as manually by the user, and automatically by the terminal.
It has been recommended in 3GPP2 that multimode system selection should use a framework referred to as an overlay function. A set of requirements for an overlay function has been previously proposed in 3GPP2.
In general, prior to receiving any services from network operator(s), the multimode terminal has to select a system (i.e., an access technology) and a corresponding network to access. Network operators would typically prefer to specify a system priority list for the terminal to follow so that the terminal can select a suitable system and a suitable network per operator preference.
A need currently exists to provide efficient techniques for achieving multimode system selection, as does a need to provide a multimode terminal having an optimized multimode system selection capability.